National athletes’ participation in major events remains under cloud

KARACHI: The prevailing hiatus of Pakistan’s sports due to state’s reforms appears to be denting the country’s leading athletes’ chances of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

National athletes are to feature in the Asian Championships and World Championships in the coming months but so far nothing concrete has been done by the athletics governing body (AFP) for preparation of the top lot.

The 23rd Asian Athletics Championships will be held in Doha from Aril 21-24, followed by the World Championships also in the same city in September-October. But so far, leading national athletes are staying idle at their homes.

After having snared a bronze medal in the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia, the country’s premier javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem has been out of practice. Although Arshad plans to begin preparation for the continental event but he does not know exactly how he could start it.

“Nobody has told us anything about the camp. I have been suffering from fever for the last four days in my hometown of Mian Channu. I can lift medal in the Asian Championship. I will see, if we are not given camp then I will try to begin preparation on my own at Lahore,” Arshad told ‘The News’ on Friday.

The country’s 400m national record holder Mehboob Ali said he did not know if he would be fielded in the Asian Championships.“I don’t know anything. There is no camp and nobody has shared with us what we will do in the coming months,” said Mehboob, who was part of Pakistan’s 4x400m relay gold in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan in 2017.

Mehboob said he had medal chance in the Asian Championships if properly trained.“I can claim silver in the 400m hurdles and bronze in 400m flat race in the Asian Championship if I get some good training,” Mehboob said.

Mehboob has come to Rawalpindi to undergo training in the Army camp for the forthcoming National Championship and National Games.This correspondent tried several times to contact the AFP chief Major Gen (retd) Akram Sahi but he did not receive calls.

The AFP secretary Mohammad Zafar told ‘The News’ that the federation plans to send five athletes to the Asian Championship.“We have got a quota of five athletes but we have not yet decided anything about the camp,” Zafar said.

“Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is not holding any camp these days and we will see in the coming days what we should do,” said Zafar, who retired from WAPDA last month.However, he was quick to add that the AFP will try to focus on few athletes if the state does not give camp to the federation.

“We will then do something through our own resources,” Zafar said. He also sees a medal chance for Arshad Nadeem.“Arshad is a talented athlete and we expect medal from him in Doha,” the official said.

Zafar said if properly backed by the state, the AFP would field five athletes and one official in the Asian Championship. When asked about Pakistan’s Olympics chances, Zafar said Arshad has a chance.

“Arshad can qualify. Let’s see what happens,” Zafar said.He added that the AFP had already informed Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) that it would be fielding its athletes in the Asian Championships and the NOC should look into the dates for the continental events before finalising dates for the 33rd National Games which are also expected to be held in Quetta in April.

Emerging long-racer Mohammad Ramiz of Army and rookie sprinter Uzair of Army are the others who could press for places in the national squad for the Asian Championships.The Asian Championships will be held at Al-Khalifa Stadium Doha which is located at the Aspire zone. This will also be the venue for the World Championships later this year.